Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020

• 03 Jul 2020

• The Global Forest Resources Assessment report has been released by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
• The FRA 2020 has examined the status of, and trends in, more than 60 forest-related variables in 236 countries and territories in the period 1990–2020.

Major Findings

• Forest area has declined all across the world in the past three decades.
• The world lost 178 million hectare (mha) of forest since 1990, an area the size of Libya.
• The rate of forest loss has also declined due to the growth of sustainable management.
• The world’s total forest area was 4.06 billion hectares (bha), which was 31 per cent of the total land area. This area was equivalent to 0.52 ha per person.
• Africa had the largest annual rate of net forest loss in 2010–2020, at 3.9 mha, followed by South America, at 2.6 mha.
• Asia had the highest net gain of forest area in 2010–2020, followed by Oceania and Europe.
• The largest proportion of the world’s forests were tropical (45 per cent), followed by boreal, temperate and subtropical.